How do we define success?
Cooper on success
Transcript
Well, success in a leadership role?
I think success is when you can turn to all of your stakeholders, and say, "We've met needs, or we're continuing to meet needs and expectations. And we are adding value. We're adding value in not just to the financial stakeholders."
Any enterprise, whether it's for-profit, not-for-profit, has customers. I think it's important there to be able to say we're delivering value. I think that the members of the organization need to feel they're growing, and delivering value. And, obviously, if the financial metrics don't follow, and reflect it, there's a question about whether you're being successful or not. But in my view, if you are truly meeting the needs of the different stakeholders, the quantitative outcome will follow.
And I think that's one of the biggest challenges is, how do you identify, and truly calibrate what those expectations are? And how do you coordinate the efforts at all times to continue to move ahead on all those fronts? I think, obviously, they're reinforcing, as each stakeholder group gains benefits. I mean, I've always been a big believer that if you can build an organization where the employee feels like they're treated like a customer, they're treated well, they will treat the customer really well. And I think that it's all interconnected, but I do think one has to look at all of them and say, "We need to be adding value in every area, and moving the enterprise, and its ability to thrive, forward."
From an individual perspective, I think a leader needs to have made an impact on how people think about what they're doing, and what they're investing in, and have an impact that's beneficial. I think that one of the biggest challenges is to be able to look at this over time. Because I think we're so caught up in a—I won't even say a "quarter to quarter" world anymore, because it's minute to minute. And the dynamics are so—as they move through the short cycles—it so distracts, or can distract from what we're here to do.
I mean, I look at the campaign that we've just talked about, and how steadfast Obama had been throughout all the criticisms, and push and pull. And I think that I would look at that and say, "Okay, this is two years and you haven't stepped into the job yet, but phase one, that's success. Because you way exceeded expectations. You fundamentally influenced a whole dynamic." And so I think it's a complex assessment of the various different stakeholders, and what you're doing for them.